Apparatus for purifying water



(No Model.) v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

- J. J. HOPPES,

APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING WATER.

) Patented Aug.- 15, 1893.

l nt/en 60.7

2SShe'ets-Sheet' J. J. HOPPES;

i APPARATUS FOR, PUIRIFYITNG WATBR. No; 503,140. Patented Augr-l5, 1893.

0000000 aoqqcao 0000000 I 00010 on UNITED ST T-Es PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN J. HOPPES, OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO.

APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING WATER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 503,140, dated August 15, 1893.

Original application filed March 9,1888, Serial No. 266,774. Divided and this application filed July IO, 1889. Serial No.

v 817,035- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN J. HOPPES,a citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Clark and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Purifying Water, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to purifying water for steam boilers and similar purposes.

It particularly relates to mechanism for purifying water at the differentrailway sup ply stations for locomotives, so that the water supplied to the said locomotive will be free from incrustating substances and free solids,

and thus prevent the accumulation of such substances in the boilers of the said locomotives.

This application is intended as a division.

elevation View of a cooling device, to which reference is made hereinafter. Fig. 3, is an elevation view partly in section, showing the automatic regulating device enlarged. Fig. 4, is a sectional elevation view showing a modified form of cooling device.

Like parts are indicated by similar letters of reference throughout the several views.

In the said drawings, A, represents a steam boiler of any well known and suitable construction. Y

B, is a purifying device, adapted to purify water and remove the incrustatin g substances therefrom by bringing the same in contact with the live steam at the boiler pressure and temperature. The purifier, B, is connected directly with the boiler, A, by a steam pipe, B. The water to be purified is fed to the pnrifier, B,'by means of an ordinary feed pump, 0, or other suitable feeding device, a pipe 0', being adapted to convey the Water from said pump to said purifier. The water fed by the pump, 0, into the purifier, B, comes 1n conperature in the boiler, A, while the feed water pumped through the pipe,C, if brought directly from the 'well, will be at the normal temperature of the well or cistern fromwhich it is supplied, so that if the water is discharged into the tank, D, direct from the purifier, B, and the water is fed into the purifier, B, direct from the pump, 0, or direct from the well from which. it is supplied, considerable loss of heat will be sustained. In order to overcome this, I provide a cooling device, E, consisting of two compartments in close contact with each other, through one of which the purifiedvwater is adapted to pass on its way from the purifier to the tank, and through the other the feed water is adapted to pass before entering the purifier. By this construction, I not only partially cool the water which is discharged from the purifier, but I raise the temperature of the feed waterbefore it is .fed into the purifier, the temperature of the water supplied to the purifier after passing through the cooler being the mean temperature between the temperature of the purifier and the feed water in the well or source of supply.

The cooler, E, I preferably construct as shown in Fig. 2, which consists of a suitable outer casing having therein an outer chamber, E, and an inner chamber, E the two chambers being separated by a suitable partition, preferably in the form of acylinder supported at the top and depending into the outer cham ber, E. The outer chamber, E, is preferably divided by atransverse partition therein forming an auxiliary chamber, E Extending upwardly from the chamber, E, into the chamber, E is a series of tubes, at, preferably outer tubes, a, into the main or outer chainber, E, from whence the water is discharged into the tank or other place of storage. The water fed from the pump or other source of supply, enters at the bottom of the inner chamber, E and surrounding the tubes, a, rises to the top of said chamber and passes to the purifier through the pipe, 0. It will thus be seen that a complete circulation of the hot or purified water is secured in direct contact with the walls of the compartment containing the cold water on its way to the purifier, so that the water from the respect ive chambers, E, and E is discharged at substantially the same temperature, the water from the heater being thus considerably cooled and that from the pump or supply correspondingly heated. The feed water passing around the tubes, a, being heated in the chamber E will part with some of the impurities therein and become partly purified before entering the heater and purifier B.

In order to clean the cooler from any incrustation s or other impurities collected there- 'n, I provide a movable head, E, at the top of the chamber, E and a blow-off or discharge pipe, E at or near the bottom thereof. The head, E is preferably of the same diameter as the chamber, E so that the entire end of said chamber is left open when the said head is removed, and thus complete access is secured thereto.

The tubes, at, being of plain cylindrical form on their outsides, may be readily cleaned by means of a cylindrical scraper adapted to fit over the same and the impurities washed out through the discharge pipe, The water which passes through the outer chamber, E, and through the interior of the tubes, or and a having been purified before entering the same, no incrustations will be found therein and consequently no cleaning thereof will be required.

It will be understood from the above that the water is forced from the source of supply into the purifier, B, against the boiler pressure by the pump, (J. This pressure will be suflicient to force the water through the cooler, E, and into the tank, D, after it is purified. Now in order to prevent the water from all being forced out of the discharge pipe, D, in the event that the feed supply should be cut off, I provide an automatic regulating device,

F, adapted to operate a valve, F, in the dis charge pipe, D, so that when the water in the heater falls below a given point, the valve, F, in the pipe, D, will be closed and thus prevent the steam from escaping from the purifier through the pipe, D, into the tank, D. This I accomplish as follows: Extending from the discharge pipe, D,is a small pipe, I), which leads to a chamber, F the top of which extends above the top of the discharge pipe, D,in the purifier. Located in the chamber, F and pivoted at the outer end, so that it may rise and fall therein, is a float, F pro vided with a projecting trunnion, b, which extends through the outer casing and connects through the medium of a suitable bell crank mechanism and connection, U, with the valve, F, in the pipe, D. This float, F is so situated with reference to the innerpipe,D, that when the water in the purifier falls below the top of said pipe, the float, F drops down and closes the valve, F. When the water rises considerably above the top of the pipe, D, the float, F is raised and opens the valve, F, to its fullest extent, thus allowing the water to pass therefrom to the tank, D.

It will thus be seen that no matter what quan-- tity of water is being forced into the purifier by the pump, 0, the automatic regulator, F, will determine the position of the valve, F, so that the water shall never fall below the end of the pipe, D, in the purifier. In addition to the regulator, F, I preferably provide awater gage, F which extends up from the pipe, 1), and by a suitable pipe connection, b is connected to the upper part of the purifier so that the position of the water in the purifier may be determined at any time at a glance.

In order to provide for feeding the boiler which furnishes steam to the purifier, I place a T-connection, c, in the pipe, D, and from the same extend the pipe, D provided with a suitable check and cut-off valve at the boiler inlet. In this way the pump, 0, acts as a boiler feeder as well as to supply the purifier, B; the water used in the boiler A, being purified and the iucrustating substances removed therefrom before passing into the same.

In Fig. 4:, I have shown a modified form of cooling device. In this case,I provide a well, H, in which, below the water line, is placed a coil of pipe, II, or other suitable Water passageshavingsuflicientoutersurface. Through this coil and the pipe, D, the water passes on its way to the tank, D. The water in the well becomes thus heated and is drawn therefrom by the pump, C, and forced into the purifier, B. In this arrangement I have shown the regulator, F, placed directly in the heater or purifier, and instead of having the valve, F, in the pipe, D, I place a variable throttle valve in the pipe, (1, which furnishes steam to the pump, 0, the said valve being operated by the automatic regulator, F, and in the same way the speed of the pump will be automatically varied so that the water in the heater will at all times cover the top of thepipe, D.

For the purifier and heater, I preferably use a purifier in which the water passes over a series of pans and flows down on the under side of said pans as set forth in my Letters Patent No. 318,112, issued May 19, 1885. But any other live steam heater may be used if desired.

The advantages of this system of purifying water for use with railroads are numerous and will be comprehended at once. Not only will the incrustating substances and free solids be kept from the locomotive boilers, but the water tanks will be kept from freezing in the winter, and as the water will be kept constantly warmed therein, they will be kept perfectly tight. In addition to this, there will be the advantage of securing warm water in the locomotive tenders, thus saving considerable fuel in the locomotives.

It is obvious that this system of purifying water may be used for many other purposes, aside from railroads, where it is desired to obtain pure water for any purpose. It is further obvious that the arrangement and construction of the various parts may be modified in a variety of ways without departing from the spirit of my invention. I do not therefore limit myself to the constructions herein shown and described, but

I claim, broadly 1. In a water purifying apparatus, the combination with a steam boiler and purifier connected thereto above and below the water line in said boiler, a discharge pipe connected between the said purifier and the lower boiler connection leading to the tank or reservoir, substantially as set forth.

2. In an apparatus for purifying water consisting of a steam boiler and purifier connected thereto, above and below the water line in said boiler a supply pipe leading to said purifier and a discharge pipe connected to the lower boiler connection between said boiler and purifier, a cooling device having two compartments in proximity to each other, one of said compartments being adapted to form a passage for the water which passes to the said purifier and the other adapted to form a passage for the water which is discharged from said purifier, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with a feed water heater and purifier, of a cooling device provided with an outer chamber and an inner depending cylinder, a series of. tubes extending into said inner chamber from said outer chamber, and a removable head in said inner chamber, the

said inner chamber being connected with the supply of said heater, and the outer chamber to the discharge, substantially as set forth.

4:. The combination with a feed water heater and purifier, of a cooling device having an outer chamber connected to the discharge of said purifier, and an inner chamber connected to the supply of said purifier, a series of tubes extending upwardly into said inner chamber and connected through said outer chamber, and a series of inner circulating tubes in said upwardly extending tubes through which the water'is adapted to pass, said inner chamber being provided with a removable head and a discharge opening, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination with afeed water heater and purifier connected to a steam boiler above and below the water line, a discharge pipe leading from said lower boiler connection to a storage tank, a water chamber connected to the purifier above and below the water line and provided with a float, said float being connected to a valve in the discharge pipe, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination with a steam boiler, of a purifier connected thereto, said purifier being provided with a discharge pipe leading to the storage tank, a cooling device through which the water is adapted to pass on its way to said storage tank, said cooling device having an inner chamber through which the water supply for said purifier is adapted to pass, an automatic regulator connected to said purifier and a valve in the discharge pipe operated by said regulator, substantially as set forth.

7. The combination with a purifier connected with a steam boiler, and a discharge pipe leading therefrom to the storage tank, a cooler in said discharge pipe, a pump adapted to force the water into said purifier through an inner chamberin said cooling device, an automatic regulator connected to said heater and a valve in said pump supply pipe operated by said automatic regulator, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 2d day of May, A. D. 1889.

JOHN J. HOPPES. Witnesses:

PAUL A. STALEY, CHAS. I. WELoH. 

